Eckhart Tolle talks about “the Pain Gap”. The Pain Gap exists when we wish for something different than what reality is. Every time we wish for something to be different than it actually is, we have instant pain. “I wish my spouse were more supportive” “I wish my income was higher” “I wish I was thinner”. Those are all set ups for pain. Because right now, things are exactly as they are. Tolle says to have peace of mind in our lives, we need to live in the present moment and accept what is.

Understanding the subtle energy that runs through your body, and how to strengthen it is vital to a peaceful, successful, joyful abundant life. Science has recently begun to realize that reality is not what it seems. Where healing is involved, the ancient traditions of qi gong and acupuncture, among others, are based on the existence of energies that scientific instruments are only now beginning to be able to “see.”

We can all be found doing things to ourselves that are not life-affirming, not positive, and that do not enhance our well-being. But sometimes, we’ve been doing these things for so long that we don’t have any way to know that we are doing them, until someone points them out. In some cases, we do know, but we haven’t figured out a way to change. Here are 5 things that many of us do, that block us from true peace and happiness.

The word harmony often brings up feelings of peace, happiness, and no stress. But how many of us really feel that our lives are in harmony on a daily basis? I know many people who rarely feel like their life is a gently flowing river completely in harmony with all of life itself. Many people convince themselves that they will experience harmony at a later date. Perhaps when their business gets going, when their workload lessens, when they get off the diet they’re on, when they get their mother placed with long term health care, when they graduate school, and many other “when I” ‘s.

Beyond the obvious fact that many people evolve throughout their lifetimes, Wayne Dyer offers a clear outline of 4 stages of human evolution that we can see in ourselves and in those around us. I love the 4 stages as Dr. Dyer explains them, because I think they can be a very useful guide to point to where we are at this point in time.